In 19th century Sarasota, Florida, the St. Armands neighborhood was an agricultural area with many sugar cane fields and orange groves.
In 1924 a developer by the name of John Ringling bought 200 acres of land in St. Armands from José Figs Perez for $115 per acre, which is roughly around what developers were paying at that time throughout much of Southwest Gulf County (then called Manatee County).
He planned to build luxury homes on this property and asked his friend Henry Ford to design affordable cars for middle-class Americans who would live there – one can only imagine how different history might have been had he succeeded!
Today, there are about 400 homes in the neighborhood and they range from around $300,000 to over a million dollars.
